The Interior Ministry is calling in the feuding mayors of Kfar Saba and Hod Hasharon, Yehuda Ben Hamo and Hai Adiv, for discussions in an effort to resolve a long-running dispute over a cellphone antenna placed opposite a school on the border of the two cities, reports www.local.co.il. Kfar Saba Deputy Mayor Dr. Buki Chass asked the ministry to intervene urgently after the two mayors were unable to reach an agreement on the controversial antenna, which has been placed in Hod Hasharon opposite an elementary school on the Kfar Saba side of the border.
According to the report, Dr. Chass has asked the Interior Ministry to become involved, saying that if it does not do so Kfar Saba will have no choice but to begin legal proceedings to try to have the antenna removed. The controversial antenna was placed opposite Kfar Saba's Ussishkin elementary school three months ago, after Hod Hasharon residents requested that it be moved away from their homes. Parents and students at the school spent weeks protesting against the antenna and Kfar Saba officials asked Hod Hasharon to move it, but their efforts came to nothing. Hod Hasharon officials said they had offered to move the antenna some 180 meters further away from the school, but claimed that Kfar Saba had not agreed to the offer.
The report said that a second antenna had recently received a permit in the area, and Hod Hasharon plans to place it opposite the cemetery near the border with Kfar Saba. A Hod Hasharon municipal spokesman said the only thing the city could do was to move the first antenna to join the new antenna there. No response was reported from Kfar Saba.
An Interior Ministry official said that Dr. Chass's letter had been received, and that the two mayors would soon be called in to clarify the matter and to try to reach a solution.